Gone are the days when actors waited patiently for their films to flourish for over a decade by carefully handpicking each character they perform, dexterously building their charisma before they decide to take a dip into the big league with a branded introduction song and knitting some scenes which induce mass hysteria making the narrative to be driven by their characters rather than by a solid script. Now it seems the time for the young and vibrant heroes who seem to dictate terms at the box-office with a couple of hits under their belt and are not hesitant in throwing their hats to try their luck at establishing their brands - this is the age of 20-20 and fast food, where patience is a prized possession! ‘Maan Karate’ directed by debutante Thirukumaran who was an assistant to AR Murugadoss seems to resonate the above mentioned facts in every aspect! The story is written by Murugadoss and is positioned to cater to the mass audiences with lots of “feel-good” factors so much so that it leaves one numb at the end!
The story unfolds as a fantasy drama where a group of tech yuppies decide to hangout at a hill station. There they discover a saint who seem to possess some powers. One of them has his wish fulfilled from the saint by receiving a newspaper that would get published in the future - which is the day after the auspicious ‘Ayudha Pooja’ (practically impossible). Slowly they realize that the events in the newspaper take shape and so they decide to benefit from it. When they come across a particular news piece which reads that a person named Peter (Sivakarthikeyan) has won a boxing championship worthy of 2 crores and he has attributed his victory to the motivation that he received from the IT yuppies, they decide to cash in on the opportunity by finding Peter and making him a boxing champion. The funny twists and turns that follow forms the rest of ‘Maan Karate’.
The basic problem with this movie is that the screenplay has been designed to over-entertain the family audiences and so they tend to throw whatever seems to be convincing, tried and tested and above all fits Sivakarthikeyan’s agenda to blow his own trumpet! Of course the first half of the movie had it’s bouts of fun and frolic, but the second half tries to fiddle around with the screenplay that was weak and was bound to doom as there was hardly any rationale behind the crucial phase of the movie where Sivakarthikeyan who is a normal guy is made to turn into a boxer with the ‘Maan Karate’ tag (which was sort of wishful thinking), manages to beat all his opponents through the league rounds, semi-final and then reaches the final and beats the past champion who is considered to be a dreaded boxer (also named as Peter - a stereotypical role played by Vamshi).
An underdog’s triumph would always be considered a huge feat, especially in Kollywood - in fact the actor’s previous hit, ‘Ethir Neechal’ has also this sort of a thread - but here this technique has been exploited beyond its scope such that the logical loopholes seem to engulf the movie neck-deep by the time the climax arrives. The climax was all the more cliched to say the least as it was meant to be a ‘happily ever-after’ theme from the start till the finish.
Performances were consistent from all quarters - Hansika with her mannequin like features and skin tone acted the same way as she did in her previous movies, Soori's special appearance was not a special one in any way, Satish as Sandy was impressive and Sivakarthikeyan's sidekick was somewhat noteworthy.
Good music from Anirudh is sure to lure the young audiences and the 'Sivakarthikeyan' tag would bring the family audiences to the theaters as it is a strong contender to open up for the summer vacation. But has the content of the movie really worked out? Sadly the answer is debatable!
Verdict: Below Average
Rating: 2 / 5
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